“Yeah, we,” Hunter confirmed. “But don’t get too fucking excited. You’re not gonna like this one.”
That sounded interesting. “We gonna babysit another princess?”
“That’s one way to put it.”
Kye knew Hunter well enough to know he was purposely being vague. “Spill it, Hunter.”
“Where’re you at right now?”
“In my truck, headin’ to the office,” he lied smoothly. If need be, he could turn around and be back there in a few minutes.
“Meet me at my place. I’m on my way there now.”
“Will do,” Kye said, putting his foot on the gas and heading toward the Kogans’ compound.
Before Kye could ask anything more, Hunter disconnected the call.
Since he wasn’t going to get any answers from his iPhone, Kye turned up the radio and focused on putting some distance between him and Hunter, not wanting the man to catch up with him.
Admittedly, he was looking forward to seeing Hunter. He hadn’t expected the man to slip out on him this morning. Then again, ever since the Thanksgiving before last, their interactions had been few and far between. Last night had been the first time Kye had spent the night with Hunter in two weeks. Oh, they were still having sex, but it was evident Hunter was using Kye to take the edge off.
And yes, he’d noticed that Hunter was purposely keeping his distance, not answering his phone the majority of the time, and only calling Kye late at night. The infamous booty call.
Kye figured Hunter was hiding out after the meltdown he’d had all those months ago. Not that Kye understood why. It certainly wasn’t the first time Hunter had lost his cool and treated him like a third-rate whore after they’d fucked. Luckily, Hunter had kept himself in check since then. He wasn’t exactly sweet and welcoming, but he wasn’t shoving Kye out the door with his clothes afterward. Since Kye wasn’t looking for a commitment, he’d learned to let it roll off. The sex was the best he’d ever had, so it was hard to say no, even if he’d wanted to.
Truth be told, Hunter wasn’t all bad. The asshole in him was his most prominent feature, but that asshole wasn’t there all the time. And there were plenty of other traits Kye admired in the guy. Sexy, smart, wickedly creative, especially when it came to sex.
However, Kye often found it amusing that Hunter liked to harp on the fact that his ex-fiancée—he never referred to Danielle by name—was the flighty one. From where Kye stood, Hunter wasn’t much different. They both seemed intent on outrunning their demons.
Didn’t look as though either of them was faring well in that.
In fact, Hunter seemed intent on pushing everyone away. Not only his family but also Kye, and he’d merely attempted to keep Hunter company when it seemed he needed a friend. Or a fuck buddy.
No, Kye wasn’t naïve enough to think they had anything more than that. Although they’d logged quite a few naked hours together, he knew he was not an inch closer to the man than he had been when they first met. For one, Hunter wasn’t out to his family, nor did it seem he ever would be. Kye also knew that Hunter had some serious skeletons in his closet. Things he wasn’t willing to talk to anyone about and no one who knew him seemed to have any answers, either.
Not that Kye cared that Hunter was in the closet, nor did he care what was in there with him.
Okay, maybe he cared a little.
He hadn’t in the beginning, but as time went on, he might’ve developed some feelings for the surly bastard. The biggest thing holding him back was the fact that Hunter clearly hadn’t gotten over his past lover—quite possibly plural, since Kye suspected Dani had a lot to do with it, but he also believed Josh Lee did, too. Yeah, gossip was like the flu—highly contagious—and Kye had managed to get a few details even if no one liked to talk about it. If it hadn’t been for those ghosts from Hunter’s past, Kye figured they could’ve possibly had something more.
Sadly, that wasn’t as easy as it sounded.
Mainly because Hunter had an ex-fiancée and a dead lover who still plagued his dreams, which meant Kye was the fourth wheel in this oddly unbalanced scenario.
However, Kye wasn’t looking to balance things out. In fact, he’d been hoping for the triad thing himself. Sure, Kye was into men and he’d enjoyed the hell out of the time he’d spent with Hunter. However, he was also into women, but from what he could tell, Hunter had sworn off women indefinitely. Or he was pretending to, anyway. Kye had dreamed that one day he would find a man and a woman and live happily ever after. At twenty-nine, that dream was starting to fade around the edges. He’d found part of what he was looking for in Hunter, but…
He knew Hunter wasn’t going to give him anything more than a little sex on the side. Certainly not pair up with him and a willing woman. And since neither of them seemed to be getting what they wanted, Kye figured they were going to be stuck in this crazy transition. Kye was simply trying to enjoy what he did have. Which, if he really thought about it, wasn’t much.
Once he pulled into the Kogans’ compound, Kye punched in the security code to open the gate. He then drove down the winding path that led to Hunter’s cabin.
A few minutes later, he walked inside, not needing a key because he’d left the door unlocked when he left, per Hunter’s instructions whenever Kye found himself waking up alone in Hunter’s bed.
He grabbed a bottle of water and headed for the living room. He was about to plant his ass on the couch when he heard the distinct rumble of Hunter’s motorcycle pulling up in front of the small house. Rather than get comfortable, he went to the door and waited.
The minute Hunter removed his helmet, Kye knew he wasn’t going to like what the man was going to tell him. The frown that marred his forehead was deep enough to hold water.
Stepping back out of the way, he watched Hunter move past him, dumping his helmet into the recliner on his way to the kitchen.
“You wanna tell me what’s goin’ on?”
“Not really, no,” Hunter grumbled, not making eye contact.
“Well, we can’t take the job if I’m in the dark.” Granted, he already had an idea what was going down, but he was hoping Hunter would go into detail.
He didn’t. Instead, Hunter grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator, then slammed the door a little too hard.
Kye didn’t say a word. He knew when to back off and now was definitely the time to do so.
“Just chill,” Hunter ordered. “We’re outta here in ten minutes.”
Yeah.
This was going to be fun.
WAITING FOR MAX TO LEAVE was quickly becoming the most stressful part of her day.
And that was saying something considering Dani had been dealing with him for the better part of the morning. She knew he was trying to hold out until Hunter arrived, but she needed him to jet so she could do the same. Thankfully, she had a bag packed and ready, so it wouldn’t take her any time at all once he did go.
Unfortunately, since they’d arrived back at her apartment, Max had busied himself by taking phone call after phone call. Any other time, Dani wouldn’t have minded because it ensured Max didn’t have the ability to ask a million questions. Which he would certainly have been doing if he weren’t busy barking out orders to whomever he was talking to.
“You heard me. I want her and the boy picked up. I’m done playin’ this fucking game. I’ll end this shit once and for all.” He lowered his voice as he continued, “Damn it, Leyton. That fucker killed Trey. I’m not gonna sit on my fucking thumbs waiting for him to gun someone else down. I need leverage and his sister and the boy’ll work fine.”
Dani pretended not to hear what Max was saying. She truly didn’t want to know what he was up to. Her entire life had been spent pretending she wasn’t part of the infamous Adorite family. Unlike Max, she had never embraced what they stood for. Didn’t mean she hadn’t been forced to do things she didn’t want to do. She had. Too many times to count.
At twenty-seven, Dani was a regular veteran of this mafia
crusade and it seemed no matter how hard she tried to distance herself, it never worked out in her favor.
“I don’t give a good goddamn if she’s boarded herself up in the fucking Alamo. Fucking get her. But watch your back.”
Dani pulled back the sheer curtain that hung over her front window, overlooking the parking lot. She was expecting Hunter to arrive at any moment, and if he did, her plan to bolt would be thwarted. Fortunately, the only person she saw was Max’s hired gun, the one who was supposedly guarding the parking lot while chain-smoking and talking on his phone. Good help was so hard to find these days.
“Danielle, get away from the goddamn window,” Max barked from behind her.
Dani rolled her eyes but let the curtain fall as she turned to face him. For a brief second, she imagined spending an undetermined amount of time with this churlish man, and she figured Hunter probably was the lesser of two evils, although she preferred neither of them.
“I need you to go,” she told him, keeping her tone as firm as possible.
Max’s eyes jerked from his phone to her. “Why?”
“Because I have things to do, and since you insist that I have a babysitter, I’d like to take care of them before he gets here.”
Max waved his hand as though she wouldn’t be bothering him if she did whatever seemed so pressing.
“No, Max. You need to go.”
He studied her for a brief moment. She fully expected him to argue, but to her shock, he didn’t.
“You sure you’ll be all right for a little while?”
Dani nodded. “I’m sure. Hunter’s probably already on his way.” God, she hoped not. “Plus, you’ve got Guido downstairs watching the building.”
“His name’s not Guido,” Max noted with a grin.
A knock on her door had her head snapping in that direction.
No. Please don’t be Hunter.
“It’s Rock,” Max informed her, regarding her curiously. “You seem a little jumpy. You sure you want me to leave?”
With a sigh of relief, she forced a smile. “Yes. I’m good. I just want a few minutes to myself.”
Max opened the door, then turned to face her while the giant black man known as Rock stood behind him.
“Hi, Taye,” she greeted him. Although everyone referred to him as Rock, Dani had always called Taye Smith by his real name. It seemed to amuse him, which was perhaps why she always did it. Well, that and she truly liked Taye. He was one of the good ones, even if he did have a devious streak. Proven by the fact that he was a bouncer turned mob hitman.
He shot her a brilliant white smile. “Dani. Good to see you.”
“I’ll be in touch,” Max stated. “And lock the damn door behind me.”
“I’m fine, Max. Really.” She moved toward the door as both men stepped outside. Once they’d cleared the threshold, she shut the door and locked it, knowing Max would stand there until he heard the deadbolt engage.
She rushed over to the window and pulled back the curtain, peeking out to see Rock and Max heading down the stairs. They paused briefly to talk to the armed thug, then walked to Max’s Escalade. As soon as they’d gotten into the SUV, backed out of the parking space, and she watched it turn the corner, Dani bolted to her bedroom, yanked open her closet door, and snatched her bag.
She was getting far too familiar with this method of exit, so she didn’t waste time. Swinging her bag over her shoulder, she grabbed her purse and her keys, flipping the lights off as she went. She gave the room one more glance, mentally running through everything to ensure she had what she needed.
“Time to go,” she whispered, then turned to the door.
She jerked it open, knowing time was of the essence. She hated that she was running again, but honestly, she didn’t know any other way to do it. It was ingrained in her, something she’d learned from a very early age.
Dani blamed her family.
Two minutes later, after she snuck down the back stairs—heading in the opposite direction from Guido—she was pulling her little Nissan out of the apartment complex and heading due north. She had a safe house in Oklahoma that would offer a little solace until she figured out her next move.
God only knew what that would be.
She only hoped that the real threat wasn’t tailing her, because she really was getting tired of this shit.
FOUR
HUNTER SHOULD’VE FUCKING KNOWN.
After going to Dani’s apartment to find her gone, Hunter gave the two-bit thug who was supposed to be guarding the building a piece of his mind. Despite Max’s incompetent bodyguard, Dani had slipped out sometime between Max’s departure and Hunter’s arrival.
After threatening the piece of shit’s life, Hunter went straight to Sniper 1 Security, barging right into RT’s office without bothering to knock.
“For fuck’s sake, Hunter,” RT barked, his head snapping over. He looked slightly shocked to see Hunter for the second time that day.
“She’s gone,” Hunter bit out.
RT leaned back in his chair regarding him like the crazy man he felt he’d become. He probably could’ve handled this with a phone call, but Hunter was all about the dramatics these days. For whatever reason, he was riled by the smallest things.
“A riddle,” RT’s husband Z said cheerfully. “Awesome. But I think we’re gonna need a little more to go on.”
Hunter held on to his frustration, not even bothering to look at the man.
RT sat up straight. “I assume you’re referring to Dani?”
“Yep,” Z said absently. “My man was always better at those riddle things than me.”
Hunter nodded, again ignoring Z. “Went to her apartment and she’s not there.”
“Did you call Max?”
“Fuck no,” he growled. “Do I look like an idiot?”
“Well, now that you mention it…” Z chuckled.
For the first time since Hunter walked into the room, RT glared at his husband.
Z chuckled sheepishly. “All right, all right, babe. I’ll hold my tongue.”
“I’m not playing this game with her, RT,” Hunter declared. “She can pull the disappearing card on someone else. I’m done.”
That seemed to catch RT’s attention. “I thought Max was staying with her?”
“He left her there with some inept asshole standing guard outside.”
“So, I’m not understanding,” RT stated evenly. “Why are you here? You took this assignment, so she’s now your responsibility. I specifically recall asking you to reconsider. You insisted. So find her.”
Hunter had known RT would say that. It was part of the reason he’d come here.
“Did someone try calling her?” Z questioned, as though no one else had thought to do that.
This time Hunter did glare at the man. “Goes right to voice mail.”
“You track it?”
“Working on it,” he told Z.
“Where’s Kye?” RT asked.
“I’ve got him watching her apartment,” Hunter told him. “In the event she comes home.”
“But you don’t think she will.” It wasn’t a question.
“No, I don’t. She’s gotten good at this, and she was clear when she said she didn’t want a bodyguard.”
“I don’t see how she’s still our problem,” Z offered. “Plus, if she’s in hiding, there’s no threat to her.”
“Not necessarily true,” RT said, leaning back in his chair again. “Max seemed pretty convinced that this Moroso brother was going to go after her.”
Hunter was trying to play it cool, trying not to think that the asshole had already gotten his hands on her. He didn’t want Dani to be his problem, but he knew there was no way he could look the other way. Not until they’d located her. Still, he wasn’t going to do so without someone specifically instructing him to. It was a matter of pride.
“Grab Claire,” RT instructed. “Give her all the information you’ve got on her. Let her work her magic, see if she can follow Dan
i’s trail. Are there security cameras at her complex?”
Hunter nodded.
“Then I’m sure they caught her leaving. See if she left on her own and start a timeline from there.” RT sighed. “In the meantime, I’ll call Max.”
“Keep him off my back,” Hunter ordered. “I’m not his fucking lackey and I’m not gonna take his shit.”
“Understood.”
Knowing he wasn’t going to get anything else accomplished, Hunter turned and left when RT picked up his phone. He’d come to get specific instructions from RT. Not because he needed them but because he didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that he was going to go rogue to find this woman. This way, RT was giving him the go-ahead and Hunter was simply following instructions.
Hunter headed down the hall that led to the bullpen, where the analysts usually took up residence when the agents were out in the field. He found Claire sitting near the window, her attention focused on her laptop screen.
“Hey,” he greeted, attempting to sound cool and unaffected.
Based on the way her gaze swung his way, Hunter didn’t think he’d succeeded.
She smiled slowly. “What’s up?”
“Need your help.”
“Ah. Those are my three favorite words.” It was obvious she was being a smartass.
“Need you to do some hacking.”
Her grin widened, this time reaching her eyes. “Okay, you’ve got my attention.”
He knew that was what Claire lived for, so he relayed as much information as he possibly could.
*
Twenty minutes later, Hunter called Kye as he walked into the parking garage. “Don’t suppose you’ve got good news for me?”
“Sorry. No. No movement on her apartment. You find out anything?”
“I’ve got Claire digging into it. She’ll pull up the security feeds, see if Dani was forced out of there, or if she left on her own.”
“What does your gut tell you?” he asked.
“That she bolted so she doesn’t have to deal with the situation,” he said without thinking about it. That seemed to be Dani’s MO. The girl was damn good at running from her problems.
Tomorrow's Too Late (Sniper 1 Security, 3) Page 6